Cyclone and cleaner



I April 1968 e WILHELMSSON 3,377,782

CYCLONE AND CLEANER I Filed June 29, 1966 FIG. I.

INVENTOR: GUNNAR WlLHELMSSON ATTYS. v

United States Patent 3,377,782 CYCLONE AND CLEANER Gunnar Wilhelmsson, Vaxjo, Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Svenska Flaktfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden Filed June 29, 1966, Ser. No. 561,496, Claims priority, application Sweden, June 29, 1965, 8,610/ 65 4 Claims. (Cl. 55-295) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cleaning device for simultaneously cleaning the dust outlets and the clean-gas outlet in small centrifugal dust separators, which are provided with a central clean-gas outlet tube and a plane end wall having two or more openings located close to the periphery of the separator casing and functioning as outlets for separated dust. The cleaning device consists of an element having one end outside the separator, passing through the outlet tube for clean gas andterminating in branch elements supporting scraping means for clearing dust from the edges of the dust outlet openings.

Background the invention Centrifugal separation of dust from dust-laden air or gas by means of cyclones is well known in the prior art. As evidenced from my copending application Ser. No. 553,749 and the corresponding British Patent Number 1,084,646, these cyclones may be formed with a cylindrical portion which is terminated with a plane end wall provided with two or more openings located close to the periphery of the cylindrical portion and functioning as outlets for separated dust. Furthermore, as evidenced from US. Patent Number 2,848,066, a cleaning device for cyclones of another type which are provided with only one dust outlet opening located coaxially with the cyclone body, is previously known. This cleaning device consists of a movably-mounted element which extends through both the clean-gas outlet and the dust outlet, the end of said element which is located outside the clean-gas outlet being movably supported by an operator constructed to give an axially-reciprocating action to said element. However, the the use of such a conventional cleaning device for simultaneously cleaning the dust outlets and the cleangas outlets in cyclones described in the above-mentioned British patent, gives rise to difiiculties, because cleaning devices for the dust outlet openings which are located in the periphery of the cylindrical portion, tend to interfere with efficient dust separation.

Summary The present invention relates to an improved cleaning device for small cyclones having two tangential inlets for raw gas and a centrally located outlet tube for discharging clean gas.

The present invention provides a suitable cleaning device for cyclones of the above-mentioned kind, which does not substantially interfere with efiicient dust separation, yet which removes accumulated dust from the outlets to prevent clogging.

More particularly, the present invention is characterized in that a cleaning device projects through the dust outlets with branches corresponding in number to the outlet openings, each of which branches being arranged to support a scraping means inserted in and conforming to its respective outlet opening, which scrapping means, upon reciprocation of the cleaning element, will remove dust deposited on the edges of the outlet openings, the element also being provided with annular scrapping means bearing against the inside of the clean-gas outlet.

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Drawings The invention will now be closer described with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a cyclone with a cleaning device according to the invention shown in elevation;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal horizontal section of the cyclone of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a transverse section taken along the section 33 of FIG. 1, with the inlet portion of the cyclone shown in phantom lines.

Description With reference to the drawings, the cyclone separator comprises a generally cylindrical casing 3 having a pair of tangential inlets 1 for raw dust-laden gases. The inlets 1 introduce the gas with a tangential helical motion into the generally cylindrical shell 3 so that the dust particles are separated from the rotating flow of gas by centrifugal force. The clean gas is discharged from the casing shell 3 by means of a central tube 2 which projects into the shell beyond the tangential inlet. At the opposite end, the shell 3 terminates in a plane end wall 4 which is; provided with two openings 5 adjacent to the shell 3 at its junction with the end wall. The incoming dust-laden gas causes a flow toward the end wall 4 which discharges the separated dust through the openings 5 into a channel 12 through which the dust is directed to a suitable collecting means.

In accordance with the invention, a cleaning device 6 is provided for the openings 5 and the central tube 4 to maintain the edges free of dust without impairing the efiiciency of the dust-separating means. Outside the cleangas outlet, there is an operator 7 to which the end of the cleaning element 6 projecting outside the clean-gas outlet is movably connected, so that when the operator is rocked on its pivot as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1, the element 6 is reciprocated axially within the tube 2. Inside the cyclone, the element extends both through the cleangas outlet tube 2 and the dust outlets 5. Adjacent the plane end wall 4, the element terminates in two branches 8, which in turn, support scraping means 9 conforming to the outlets 5, and which upon reciprocation of the element, are inserted in the openings 5, for scraping away dust deposited on the edges of the outlets. In order to guide the scraping means 9 through the openings 5, the extensions of the branches 8 bear resiliently against the innermost edges 11 of said openings, and are suitably provided with a width corresponding to the width of the outlet openings. Adjacent the other end of the element within the clean-gas outlet, a scraping means 10 bears against the inside of the outlet tube 2. and consists of a spirally-wound coil.

The invention is, of course, not limited to the abovementioned embodiment but may be varied within the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a cyclonic separator comprising a casing including a shell with a generally cylindrical portion at its inlet end and having two tangential inlets for raw gas, a tube projecting beyond said tangential inlets centrally within said inlet portion to constitute a clean-gas outlet, said casing shell terminating at the opposite end in a plane bottom wall spaced from said outlet tube, and a plurality of dust openings in said bottom wall positioned adjacent the shell at its junction with said bottom wall to serve as outlets for the separated dust; the improvement wherein said separator includes a cleaning device consisting of an element having one end outside of said casing, a medial portion extending through the clean-gas outlet tube, and terminating in a plurality of branches, each projecting through one of said dust outlet openings, said element being supported for movement axially within said tube and said outlets, an operator connected to said element to give an axial reciprocating action to said element, a scraping means on each branch inserted in and conforming to its respective oulet opening, which scraping means upon reciprocation of the element, will remove dust deposited on the edges of the outlet openings, and annular scraping means mounted on said element within and bearing against the inside wall of the clean-gas outlet tube.

2. A cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the parts of the branches projecting through the dust outlets, bear as guiding means against the innermost edges of the dust-outlet openings upon reciprocation of the element.

3. A cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the annular scraping means bearing against the inside of the clean-gas outlet tube is spirally-wound coil.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,219,996 10/1940 Livingston 55-295 2,494,465 1/1950 Watson et a1 55-459 2,848,066 8/1958 Allander et al 55--296 3,296,778 1/1967 Dock 55459 FOREIGN PATENTS 739,504 11/ 1955 Great Britain. 866,552 4/1961 Great Britain.

HARRY B. THORNTON, Primary Examiner.

B. NOZICK, Assistant Examiner. 

